Not As Pricey For Me

My experience hasn't been as bad as some others' in the "expensive" department. I've got 150,000 on my 2000 S-type and until now the only major expense was to replace the transmission at 130,000...I think that's pretty reasonable mileage for a tranny on a big, heavy, powerful vehicle.

That said, my car is in the shop getting a new engine now...but it's not the car's fault. It started overheating occasionally and I didn't take care of it as soon as I should. After a few episodes it quit on the side of the side of the freeway, had to be towed for only the second time ever (first time was a tire blow-out that took out a brake line, also not the car's fault), and the mechanic discovered coolant in the exhaust system. The water pump had started leaking, and when I didn't get it repaired soon enough it overheated one too many times and either cracked the block, blew a head gasket or both, so I decided to put a rebuilt engine in instead of trying to repair it. My bad, not the car's.

Other than that the car has been very reliable for me, and the numbers seem to show that since Ford bought the company and they purged the Lucas Electrics from the cars, reliability has been comparable to the American brands (though not as good as, say, Honda or Toyota...but what is??). I've been very happy with my ride.